Kurama
by Amusebeard
Summary: AU. "In a way, I'm always the same. So, why am I changing?" But then again, what monster is actually terrifying from his point of view? Kurama-centric.


**Kurama**

Trapped inside one mind, forced to obey, aware and unaware of the world around them. Beings of unfathomable power, reduced to little more than guard dogs, another sign of Konoha's might. Swirling black tomoes on bloody red eyes denoted the captivity of the once great beings, the Tailed Beasts. There was a time, mostly unremembered by the people of Konoha, when even they feared them. Force of nature, they called them. Twisted gods of chaos come to punish them, unstoppable, unbeatable.

But that was then. It's been generations now since the hands of men grasped and controlled the power they once thought godly, and it was all thanks to a man, the man that Konoha still venerates as the god of shinobi, the founder of the village, the great Uchiha Madara. After founding his village, the man had expanded the village borders beyond the wildest dreams of the most optimist Konoha citizen, captured the Tailed Beast as trophies and put them to guard the village, before finally going into a peaceful retirement, handing the Hokage's hat to one of his most powerful cousins, Uchiha Kaito, who had quite the short lived reign, and gifted the treasured hat, between much uproar, to one outside the Uchiha clan, his student.

The citizens of Konoha thus lived fulfilling, happy lives, protected behind the never breached walls patrolled by the seven Bijuu in their possess, among which resided the most feared of them all, the Nine-Tailed Fox.

It was a fine specimen of Bijuu, an observer might notice, if the meter of judgment was about how absolutely terrifying it was. Standing as tall as a mountain, nine sharp, deadly tails ramrod straight behind him, it was the first thing someone nearing Konoha would see through the foliage, by design. It usually stood impossibly still, but its Sharingan eyes would follow everyone in its sight. It could also speak, apparently, but it had been awhile since any Uchiha made it talk. Apparently, the resident psychologists noted that having him speak may, in the long run, actually reduce the impact of the giant bijuu, as it could be likened to a human instead of the ready weapon it actually was.

Alongside him, spread all around the village to cover any possible attack, were a giant, flaming cat, an enormous, kind of awkward looking turtle, a red gorilla, a strange horse with the head of a dolphin, a slimy, disgusting slug and a sea monster with a bovine head. All in all, they were a terrifying bunch, and needless to say, Konoha hardly needed to worry about attacks to the village. It was speculated that not even Madara himself could have taken all seven of them on alone without his Sharingan.

Kurama, that was the forgotten name of the Nine-Tailed Fox, was angry. There were inevitably periods when the Genjutsu on him and his brethen had to be renewed, and for a few, rare moments, he regained his mind and all his fury and hatred. His head would swirl with thoughts of vengeance in a downward spiral, 'Cowards,' he'd think, 'I'll kill you all, dismember you, eat your children your family your love your _damned village_, I will destroy you for my brot-'. And then inevitably the genjutsu would be reapplied.

Once, he had managed to satisfy his thirst for blood by squishing an Uchiha into _paste._ After that day, the Uchiha made a policy of having the Hokage around whenever the need to reapply the Genjutsu arose to subdue the Tailed-Beast.

His mind lived in a state of quiet obedience, the Genjutsu on him squishing his awareness of self to a side, leaving Kurama aware enough to get angry, but unable to do anything about it. These kind of power games were exactly the kind of things Madara Uchiha liked, and the fox knew it. But there was no helping it. It had been years since he felt something that was not hate and anger.

It was time, Kurama knew. He had been biding his time for a while now, counting the seconds and the hours between each Genjutsu until he had it down to art form and could reasonably predict when the Uchiha would come again. It had taken all he had just to do this, but he was not the Nine-Tailed Fox just because of his strenght. When it came to his survival and that of his brothers, Kurama was willing to do anything.

Even... even swallowing his pride and running away. And that's what he was going to do. He could already feel the hold of the Genjutsu slackening, his mind opening as if a new sky showed itself to him, breaking the old cealing like shattering glass, his chains heatlessly boiling and fading away, his mind once more his...

This was around the point where he would roar and try to kill whatever foolish human was in sight.

Not this time.

_-Kurama- _

"Minato, it's time." A redheaded woman exclaimed softly, looking pointedly in the direction of the door. The next moment, a man with spiky white hair crashed inside the house through the window, glass shards flying everywhere. He landed, rolled with it and ended his entrance in a pose, a foot placed on the armrest of a couch. The redheaded woman closed her eyes in poorly repressed anger.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Jiraiya the sage is here for your very own pleasure!" The man exclaimed, clapping his hands for emphasis. He discreetly extracted a glass shard from his side. It wouldn't do to ruin his entrance after all.

"... Jiraiya" A low growl resounded in the room, an ominous presence rising. "How many times... How many times will I have to tell you that you MUST NOT break my windows - and those were seal-enforced! How in the seven _fucking _hells did you even _do _that?! You goddamn, earth-licking motherfucking bast-"

"Mom!" A young voice interrupted. The woman yelped. "Why are you strangling Uncle Jiraiya?" His eyes were full of innocent mischief. The woman did not notice.

"Oh! I'm so sorry sweety, you shouldn't have to see that." For a moment, her glare froze the sage in place. "But this... your _uncle_ should have f- seriously understood by now that he should just use _the goddamn door._"

"Is that another bad word? I thought I shouldn't say bad words?"

"No, I mean, yes, but that's not it, you know, that, well..."

" But then, then why are you using them, mom?"

"Oh, give it a rest, Naruto." A voice resounded "You know your poor mother is weak to you." The blue eyed blonde man laughed from his seat, before he methodically got to his feet, exchanging a fist bump with Jiraiya. "Sensei, must you do that every time?" He asked of the white-haired man with exasperation. "You know how Kushina is about these kind of things." He whispered.

"What was that?" Kushina sweetly smiled.

"Nothing, nothing." Minato was quick to assert. Then Jiraiya began to laugh, and it was like a chain started until everyone was drawn in it, laughing and sharing friendly smiles.

"It's good to see you, sensei." Minato said honestly, patting Jiraiya's shoulder. "We were all getting kind of worried around here." Jiraiya glanced at Kushina, who just shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'Well, what did you expect?'. The sage began to laugh boisterously, crossing his arms and tilting his chin upward.

"Ohohoh! Did you all forget that I'm the best goddamn spymaster in the entire world? This job was super _easy_, seriously. In fact I was so bored that I took the scenic route to return here. Seriously, Minato, you shouldn't waste my talents like this! The gallant Jiraiya is unstoppable, after all!" He laughed, before sharing a glance with Minato, upon which both their countenances became more serious.

"Hey, Naruto. I heard that the ramen shop you like so much is having a sale day today, why don't you go buy some?" Minato said, motioning with money in his hand toward his son. The moment he extended his hand, the money had already disappeared and the boy was out without so much as a by your leave.

"That boy, seriously." Kushina shook her head in exasperation.

"I wonder who he took after..." Minato teased.

"S-Shut up." The woman demurred with an hidden smile. The sounds of scribbling soon reached their ears, and they both groaned. Jiraiya was writing in his notebook, trying to contain his giggles and only succeeding in making them more creepy. The couple was by now long since used to the older man antics, having featured in at least two of his books as far as they knew, and by now were fully cognizant that nothing they did would ever stop him.

"Give me that." Kushina ordered, pointing to his book. They might know that there was no stopping him, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try.

"Come on, that was _lovely._" Jiraiya grinned. The couple just sighed. Then, with but a glance, the situation shifted again, becoming once more serious.

"The preparations are set." Jiraiya reported.

"Any problems?" Minato inquired.

"A little snake infestation, but nothing to worry about." Despite his words, Jiraiya remained serious. Minato looked him over, realizing why he took so long to come back.

"Injuries?"

"None to speak of."

"So everything is ready? When will the mission start?" Kushina asked, half worried, half resigned. Minato closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. This was a new technique for him, which was also one of the key to the success of this mission. Nobody outside of those within this room even knew about its existence, and it was a terrifying weapon in the right hands. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was the most important mission for Uzushio since the Great Sealing. He could not and would not fail.

His eyes snapped open.

"Now. Operation: Uzushio Great Teleporting Lightning Rescue. Go!" Then, he disappeared in a yellow flash.

\- Kurama P.O.V -

Black. Finally black. My eyes snap shut with a whoosh of displaced air, and I allow a victorious smirk on my face for but a moment, before snapping the rather weak seals on me with a hurricane of red chakra. Malicious killing intent starts to seep from me in waves, and I could _feel _the Uchiha's fear around me like a welcome breeze of a summer night.

I delight in the feeling for just a second, before roaring. Images of gruesome deaths run through my mind, of bloody claws and dripping red teeth.

Then, I run away. I turn my back on my tormentors before I did something I would regret, and escape without looking back.

"Stop it!" I hear a particularly brave ninja scream with an impressive acute.

"After it!" Another trembles in anticipation.

"It's just a fucking overgrown fox! It just needs its leash, you idiots." For some reason, it's always the hopelessly stupid ones who start the chase.

I can hear the unsettled wave of emotion behind me moving to catch me, but they just have to try. I can't fight, as they had six of my brothers with them and dozens of mind-controlling eyes, which means I'd waste too much time shaking them all off in an outright fight, but I could very well spare a bite or a thousand.

If only the Bijudama wouldn't take so much time... Ah, dreams. So hauntingly beautiful yet so distant.

"Shinra Tensei" For a moment, I freeze mid-jump. Or maybe it's the world that has stopped to hear the majestic two words.

Then, a crushing wave of _something _slammed into me. I lose track of myself in pain, my body not responding to my commands because I was _flying –_ holy shit – and then I crash _through_ the hard ground to my right? Left? No, definitely right.

In those same seconds, my still closed eyes flashed with light inexplicably.

I jumped up, already resuming running, when I heard someone speak up.

"Kyuubi!" The voice intones powerfully, echoing in my head. It was a man with rippling eyes. Rinnegan? Impossible."There's no point in running, beast. Konoha is the strongest!" It says convinced. "We've already caught you. Or can you not sense your brothers anymore?"

Gyuki was right ahead of me, Matatabi and Saiken beside him. Of course. Safety measures.

I... How could I be so stupid? Of course there would be damned safety measures. I have just been too blind, too narrow sighted, too naive to predict them. Too arrogant. Again. I'm sorry, father.

To these bastards I was a beast. A soulless, demonic beast. A thing to use for their own goals, no different from their weapons or their damned eyes. I didn't care before, I wasn't touched by these bastards, I could live in peace without caring about them. And so what if I had a sick fascination with seeing destroyed battlefields? I just feel drawn to them. That doesn't mean I am a demonic entity who shows himself in places of great negativity.

What was I thinking of, again?

No matter. There is no point in thinking anymore. I'll just take down as many Uchiha as I can. If I have to be chained again, I'll be chained _bloody. _

My canines must have shown. People backed away. Someone launches a kunai, or maybe a shuriken. It missed. Fear does that, yeah.

I put one paw in front of the other, lower my center of gravity, and roared to the heavens. I was a beast of chakra, but I could still feel the vibration in my throat. Thanks, father.

Suddenly, several things happened at once. As I am beginning my glorious charge against the Uchiha, I feel someone behind me – but that's impossible. I raise my claw, prepared to turn around and slaughter whoever it is, and then I'm just somewhere else.

I stop. I blink – belatedly realizing that I had actually opened my eyes while roaring, good job, Kurama – and I look around.

I am confused.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down! Calm down! Damn it!" A male voice, from behind me. What does he want? I turn my head toward him, snarling.

A blonde man. And he's scary. No, not in the sense that _I'_m scared, in the sense that he looks ready to do something he would regret, without a second thought, just because he thinks it would help his goal. It's, like, one of _those _people. With a righteous _goal_ and a just _dream_. All in their head, of course. But then you never know what they might do to achieve what they want, and that is what makes them scary. And he has cold eyes. Ice-cold.

He also looks capable enough, given that he teleported _me _right in the middle of where-in-the-hell-we-are.

"Kushina!" He orders. I turn around, damning my low perception today, and suddenly I can't move anymore. I roar again, but I manage only to rattle clothes. Disgusting. I look down, and realize what is keeping me paralyzed: chains.

Amazing. From metaphorical chains, to real, biting, _cold_ chains.

How I hate this – being a slave to these humans bastards, abusers of the gift of the Sage, murderers, rapists, scum of the world. They've never deserved any of what they've been given, father was always too kind, too trusting. If I was created before he was on his deathbed and he had already spread chakra around, I would have advised him: look, giving superpowers to people isn't gonna bring peace. Believe me. It's just a stupid idea all around. Don't do it. That's what I'd have said. And he would have listened, because father always listened, and there would have been peace instead of constant war.

I.. uh, right, I'm in chains.

I roar. A blonde kid in front of me, with _chains_ coming from his hands – he's the one! - has taken a step back. A serious faced old man with questionable hair jumps in front of him protectively. Then a red haired woman jumps ahead of the old man, with chains protruding from her hands, the bitch.

They were like ants, really. They just didn't -couldn't- see that standing in a row just made it easier to squash them all together.

If. Only. I. Wasn't. In. Chains.

Damn it.

Then the scary man from before – who I still didn't look in the eyes because I was still cautious, he may be an Uchiha, for all I know – jumped in front of me. So close, yet so far. Then he was suddenly looking straight at me in one eye.

"Stop. Fucking. Roaring." He growled at me. It was an impressive growl. "Thank you."

"Did you just..." The man with questionable white hair started incredulous.

"Shut up, Jiraya-sensei. The plan failed." Did I mention that I hate plans? Because I do. They all seem to involve me, and in a bad way. A mind-controlling, enslavingly bad way.

"We have the Kyuubi! That's something!" Jiraya, that was the name of the old man, was trying to look at the bright side. He was trying just a little too hard though, even I could tell.

"The Kyuubi isn't enough!" That was a person who snap, I should know. "I'm sorry. I just... This was _our _best chance. What happened down there?" The man that I was not scared of wondered with frustration.

"I can answer that." I spoke. There is delight in surprising people, maybe not as much as scaring them to death before slaughtering them, but those _faces._ Though I think I'm being a little too compliant here. "But I won't." I smirk through the chains which keeps biting in my flesh. Thank you, father.

"Gaaah! It speaks!" The blonde boy bolted from his hidden position to look at me better, with a kind of beautiful terrified awe in his eyes.

"Gaaah! You speak!" I mocked the boy. "And with such a _stupid _voice too. Shut up, brat."

"Hey! Who are you calling stupid?! You... You - "

"Stop it, Naruto!

"bunny-ears!" Insufferable brat. He'll die first.

...Damned chains. I roar. He flinches and fall on his ass. It feels good.

"Goddamnit, Naruto." The older blonde, presumably the father of the kid, sigh out. I did not blink, but he suddenly appears beside Naruto, grasp one of his arms, disappears – I feel the weight of a small amount of chains disappear – and reappear all in the span of a blink. It doesn't feel real. How does he do that?

"Good." He says, and I don't understand what – oh, the roaring. "So, you can talk." Like son, like father. Stupidity must run in the family. I snarl. "Of course you can, you're the greatest of the chakra beasts."

I know what he's doing. It's a very simple appeasement. A stupid tactic. It works.

"Of course I am." I cannot stop myself from saying. I can see them making deadpan expression at me. I quickly return to my previous level of dignity.

"What is going on here? And can you get these chains off me!" I growl.

They look at each other uneasily, before the blonde man straightens himself and he takes a step forward to have my attention. I turn my eyes to him, and he doesn't flinch.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. You would escape and all these efforts would be for nothing. I can't let you do that."

"What do you want from me?" I'm angry. I can feel the dark monster boiling just beneath the surface, pushing to break through my control and make these people die - it wouldn't take much, a touch, a bite - they're just humans.

Meanwhile, I have finally seen the state of the clearing we were in, and it was wrecked. That... was probably my fault.

"I want your help to destroy the Uchiha." Those blue eyes stare right through me, and I can feel his will reverberate through my soul. Ah, nothing that poetic really - I mean that he knows how to mix words and determination, that is.

"Why would I help you?" I speak after a moment of silence. This is different. What he offers is different. As if I'm a spectator of my own body, I notice that I'm looking at him through narrowed eyes, and that I'm speaking slower.

"Because you want to." He kept staring at me.

"..."

I consider it. I'd be just changing hands, really. A weapon that changed grip, nothing more. As always, that's all humans think we Tailed Beasts are. That's your legacy, father. How could they have fallen so low? I remember how they were, in those times. Everyone loved the legacy of the great Sage. We were venerated like gods, people sometimes _prayed _to us, and I can't deny that I sometimes answered to them. But look at them now, thinking that we're just tools, to be used, like lowly _slaves, _to be abused for our power and denigrated and spat upon and _controlled. _Maybe the root is our deification – veneration is not the same as love, that's what father said – people in a way always feared us. As they rightly should. How dare they even _try _to belittle us, they should all die, murdered, betrayed and enslaved, these bastards who dare spat upon the legacy of my father.

Um, what is going on, again? Oh yes.

"I won't do it." I answered him. "I won't."

"But you _want_ to?" He pressed.

"I won't." I growled. "Do you figure me a fool? Those _Uchiha, _they deserve worse than death, but I'm not going to be involved in it. Just a look, that's all they need, one glance at my eyes, and I'm their slave again. I won't do it." I reiterated.

"What!" The old man finally says, bringing himself near me. "Listen to me, Kyuubi. You may have lost once against those eyes, but you can't give up like that. That's the mark of a coward -" What! How dare he!? "Yes, a coward. You're running away. Only a coward runs away from his problems. I don't care if you're a beast of legend or whatever, but I won't let you just run away like this. We've spent so much time trying to create the chance to take you and the other Tailed Beasts away from them, you're not gonna waste our efforts. And, you're the Kyuubi. You don't run from problems. Right?" Good speech human. If only you didn't have that outrageous look on your face, it would actually be believable.

"There's a difference between running away from your problems and trying not to suicide artistically."

"You can't actually die... can you?" Jiraya asks hesitantly.

"No, but giving up my freedom like that is worse than dieing. Now, if you'll just get these. Damned. Chains. Off me!" I growl. " We'll go our separate ways. I won't help the Uchiha, that I promise. And it's the promise of a demon lord, it's unbreakable."

"That's a lie, isn't it?" The blonde man crinkles his face in twisted amusement.

"Yes." I said as monotonous as possible. "You're not bad, for a human."

"Ah. Thank you?" The man doesn't seem that scary now, with that bemused expression on his face.

"What's your name?" I couldn't keep calling him blonde man in my head the entire time.

"Minato." He answered. "Ah, whatever. This is a total failure. Kushina, free it."

"What!" "WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

"But – but why?" The woman, who until now was very focused on keeping the chains impossible to break out of, looks at Minato with questioning eyes.

"I'm sorry. In the end, I just can't be like the Uchihas. It's impossible. And it would have been a failure anyways, so it doesn't really matter."

"Those are just excuses! I can't believe it! This is our chance to finally- "

"No, it's not." The man interrupted. "Just free it, Kushina. We can't enslave it." He exchanged a meaningful look with the woman.

Oh! It's not actually because of his compassion, how foolish of me to believe that for even a second! They just can't control me! They're not Uchihas, it's impossible to control a Tailed Beast without those cursed eyes! I felt a rush of freedom shiver its way through my whole body. Again, thanks, father.

"... Fine." The woman finally concurs. "But don't think this is the end of it!" I don't really see what's the point of saying that. Of course it's the end of it!

"Fine fine. We'll talk about it later." But the man just plays along. How strange. Unless they have some other kind of plan to imprison me, enslave me or who knows what.

...Damned two-faced human bastards.

Just before the woman starts to unchain me, I shifted. I was fox, and then I am human. Nine tails swish behind me, my long dark red hair moves with the wind they produce, and I try to make a victorious face, but I'm not sure how to go about that. I've never been human for more time than it took to see if I could transform. But this was a matter of pride. To show them that I never was in their hands. The chains dissolve suddenly, from shock.

" You're a human?" The man with questionable hair exclaims.

"Are you actually the brat in disguise? Because that's what I would expect from a kid." I mock him.

"Well, it's kind of surprising, you have to admit." Minato, are you defending the idiot? I almost respected you. Well, not really. " But, if you can take such a form, I have another offer for you." His eyes glint in a way that I don't like. "Come with me to the village. To Uzushiogakure. You'll be safer there." He looks serious, and his eyes were once again cold glaciers.

"I don't like jokes. I'll never come to a village full of humans."

"Then what will you do?"

"I'll hide, like I did before."

"Like when Madara found you?"

"I let him find me!"

"... You're lying again."

"Shut up. I'm leaving." I simply turned and run away. I dislike useless exchange of words. I think he realizes that, because he leaves me alone.

Still, I think I'll pay a village to that village of his.

\- |Kurama| -


End file.
